Why Ranma Saotome Doesn't Lose
by Isamu Hatanaka
Summary: A sparring match between Ranma and Akane leads to an explanation of why Ranma just won't accept a loss.


Why Ranma Saotome doesn't lose  
  
By Shane West, aka Isamu Hatanaka.  
  
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"Fight back, Ranma! How am I supposed to get better if you don't try to hit me?!"  
  
"No way, I don't fight girls!"  
  
It was Sunday Morning in Nerima, where a typical sparring session took place in the Tendo Dojo...  
  
"What, are you afraid to lose?"  
  
"To someone like you? Don't make me laugh."  
  
...with the typical argument accompanying it. And, of course, there was a typical outcome.  
  
Akane Tendo, of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, wore herself out trying to hit her reluctant fiancé, Ranma Saotome.  
  
"Hah! Ya can't even beat me when I'm not fighting back! Just goes to show ya that Ranma Saotome is the best! Haha!" Ranma taunted.  
  
"Damn it, Ranma! I'll beat you yet!" Akane shouted, launching herself at Ranma. Akane threw a volley of punches and kicks at Ranma, to no avail.  
  
"Give it up, tomboy, there's no way you'll ever beat me! No one will ever beat me!" Ranma replied, undaunted.  
  
"Damn you! Why do you always have to be better than everyone?! Is it that bad to lose even once?!" Akane shot back.  
  
That got an unexpected reaction out of Ranma. His features gained a reflective look and he replied softly, "Yes, yes it is."  
  
Akane did not expect that reaction from Ranma. Nonetheless, even though caught off guard, she still decided to get another shot in.  
  
"Oh, that would wound your ego too much, wouldn't it! All your little fiancées would lose interest in you, and you'd be stuck only with me! Well I'm sure that would be terrible for you!" Akane yelled at him.  
  
"No," he replied in the same tone of voice, "that's not it. That's not it at all."  
  
Akane was once again startled by his tone of voice. She didn't understand why Ranma was acting this way, and she didn't know how to deal with him like this.  
  
"You don't understand, do you? No one does, I think," Ranma continued, "Even though it makes perfect sense."  
  
"W-what do you mean?" Akane managed to say.  
  
"It's obvious, isn't it? I mean, think about it. If I lost, then what would I be?" he replied in a downcast tone of voice. "Nothing. No one. There wouldn't be anything left of the Ranma Saotome you know."  
  
"That's not true, Ranma, you-"  
  
"Isn't it, though?" he cut in, "I mean, if you think back to the Hiryuu Shoten Ha incident, where I asked you what else I had besides my strength, you couldn't answer that. That got me thinkin'."  
  
Ranma continued, "Think about your life for a sec, Akane. You played as a young child, grew up, went to school, made friends, learned, and trained in martial arts up until this point in time. Except for the martial arts bit, you lived the life of an average girl. An overall normal life, right?"  
  
Akane didn't understand where this was going. "Yeah, sure, but what does this have to do with-"  
  
Ranma cut her off again. "Just gimme a sec to explain, ok?" he replied, now staring at her.  
  
"Now I had a very different life than you. I, too, played as a small child. But then pops took me on that training trip when I was 6. We traveled around Japan and China and continuously trained up until now. Do you understand yet?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I-I don't understand what you are trying to say," Akane replied meekly.  
  
Ranma sighed. "Compare your life to mine. Look at all the differences between them. Do you see what I'm trying to say? You had a lot of stuff that I never got. You had a lot of stuff I had to give up. It's because I gave up so much that I need to be the best."  
  
"Don't you see?" he continued. "I never had the chance to make friends. I gave up school, despite how much I dislike it. I gave up a family, and I gave up a home. I gave up most of my life to get where I am. I had to stay dedicated to my training, day in, day out, in order to be the best."  
  
Ranma paused to collect his thoughts. He walked over to Akane, and sat down next to her. Akane sat down as well.  
  
After gathering his thoughts, Ranma continued. "Friends, family, home. Those, and a bunch of other stuff, you've taken for granted all through your life. Take my family, for example. I left my mother behind all those years ago. Now I don't mean to offend your mother, Akane, but unlike you, I had to give up my mother willingly. You, on the other hand, didn't."  
Akane didn't know what to say. She wasn't happy that Ranma had used her mother as an example, but she somewhat understood what Ranma was trying to say.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, Ranma, but what about your father? He was around you even more than my own father was around me," Akane said at length.  
  
"Not really, Akane. You don't really understand my father as much as you think you do. Ya see, despite his selfishness, pops isn't that bad a guy. But he doesn't know how to be a father as much as he knows how to be a sensei. That's all pops was when we were on the trip. He never was a father to me. All he could do was teach, so all he did do was teach. He was a sensei, not a father. Just one more thing I sacrificed to be what I am." Ranma finished.  
  
Akane was rather startled by this revelation. She knew that Genma was a bad father, but didn't know that he didn't know how to be one at all. It shocked her, to say the least. She would have replied, but Ranma continued on.  
  
"Ya gotta understand that my pops was only doing what he thought was best for us when we were on the road. Sure, we stole, we cheated, we lied, but we had to. Or else we probably wouldn't be here alive. He was looking out for me, despite how dishonorable his methods were. This engagement that we're stuck in is our fathers' dream of bringing together the separated schools of Anything Goes, so that we can master the school in its purest form," Ranma explained. "My father may not have made the best choices, but it was all he knew how to do."  
  
Akane sat in silence, trying to sort out all the information. She didn't realize how deep Ranma's training went. She didn't understand how much he had to give up until now.  
  
Ranma took Akane's silence as incentive to keep talking. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "School was also a major sacrifice in my life. I know that I'm one of the dimmest lights on the Christmas tree. My intelligence, and manners, were shot to hell because I gave up on school. I didn't get the social benefits of school either, which explains why I'm an insensitive jerk."  
  
Akane felt guilty all of a sudden. She knew that last comment was somewhat directed at her. She felt like apologizing to Ranma for calling him names, but didn't have the chance to.  
  
Ranma laid down on his back and stared at the ceiling. "My training is one of the reasons why I couldn't let you get away with that incident with the dougi. Do you know what it felt like when you suddenly got better than me? Why I never stopped trying to beat you and destroy that suit?"  
  
Ranma turned his head to look at Akane. "It made me feel like my training was just a game. For almost all my life, I worked to become who I am. 10 years, Akane, 10 YEARS, I trained to unlock my dormant skills and abilities that the dougi was designed to unlock. When you first sparred with me after the dougi put itself on you, I felt like I was playing a video game against you, and that you just put in some sort of cheat code to boost your character's power. Do you know what it feels like to have put so much energy into the most important aspect of your life and the just watch as someone desecrates and destroys everything you've worked for?"  
  
Ranma turned his head away from Akane, not wanting to see her reaction to that piece of information. He gazed up at the shrine on the wall of the dojo. "Martial arts is exactly what the name implies. An Art. Not some child's video game. Stuff like that dougi are what desecrate the Art that fighting is transformed into in a martial arts duel. My father knows that, and your father knows that. Once you are good enough, Akane, you'll understand that as well. The dougi is just like taking steroids. All you're doing is cheating yourself."  
  
Akane didn't realize that she had made Ranma think like that. She felt like crying. Tears started to well in her eyes. "R-Ranma, I... I didn't know..."  
  
Ranma looked back at Akane again, with a touch of sadness in his eyes. "I know that I'm not the best yet, but I'm definitely high up there. I know that Happosai and Cologne are better than me. I just don't want to admit it. But I know that they're only that good because they've had about a century more training than I did. If I keep training, in a few years I may very well be the best martial artist to ever exist."  
  
"Everyone has a dream, Akane. Mine is to be the best at what I do best. I will be the best, Akane. One day, I will. And not you, Ryoga, Mousse, Cologne, Happosai, our fathers, or anyone else that comes my way will ever take my dream away from me. I promise you that. And Ranma Saotome keeps his promises," Ranma concluded.  
  
A short silence ensued, before Ranma spoke up again. "Sorry to dump all of that on ya, Akane. But no one is gonna take my life away." At that, Ranma got up and headed back to the house, leaving Akane alone in the dojo staring after Ranma, with only her thoughts.  
  
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Author's notes: Why the hell did I write this? I don't know. I just figured that after my failed attempt at writing a big fic (Zoanthropy Arts comes to mind) I decided to see how I would fare at a shorter, to-the-point fic, so I put up this little piece. This is my second fic, so don't be too harsh on me if ya think it's bad. This is my opinion of why Ranma doesn't lose, and why he won't just stay down. 


End file.
